Tag: #ECET2

Our goal was to share our new learning of childhood trauma and how the toxic stress damages children’s brains. Through various conversations with colleagues it became obvious that it was quickly becoming a focus in our school district. During the March 16, 2018 Augusta School Department In-Service Day one of the sessions was called “Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) & Toxic Stress. The presentation was developed by the Maine Resilience building Network and presented by Sue Mackey Andrews. The majority of the teachers at Gilbert School attended this session and instantly saw the connection between childhood trauma and education. This was the perfect kickoff for our afterschool book study – Fostering Resilient Learners. We used the $500.00 grant money to purchase the books.

When planning our book study we divided it up according to the five key parts of the book. We are in the middle of our book study which is leading to the staff deepening their knowledge on childhood trauma and coming up with effective interventions to support our students. Staff members that complete the book study will receive contact hours. We have framed the book study so that if someone can’t attend due to a conflict in their schedule there is an option to do it as an independent book study with assignments and reflections. It should be noted that other educators in the district have heard that we are doing this book study at Gilbert School and want to do it in their building next school year. The $100.00 Staples gift card was a nice bonus. We having been using the gift card to buy additional supplies for the book study. Thank you for making this book study a reality through this generous grant.

The five teachers who teach fourth and fifth grade who attended the ECET 2 conference are involved with teaching PBE in the Math Classroom along with the 93 students at Academy Hill School. We meet weekly in an hour long PLC to discuss PBE in Math and informally most days. We work as a team to problem solve, place students, discuss strategies as well as activities to use with our students. Our principal and the District Coordinator have also been involved in our meetings.

We have had one parent meeting before we started PBE in Math to inform the parents of what math would like. We are having another parent meeting on Feb. 28 to see how PBE in Math is going for their child. We are trying to build a culture with the PLC community, our student community, and our parents that PBE is the way to go.

We have taken baby steps through December by mixing the fourth and fifth graders together through teaching Growth Mindset and Habits of Mind. We are also mixing our students in Math Club in preparation for the PBE in the Math Classroom which was started on January 3. Some benefits that we are seeing are that students are more engaged in their learning and are motivated to reach their Learning Target. Our hope is for students to be more invested in their learning.

We presented at the District Workshop on March 23. Our presentation was about our road map for implementing PBE in Math. We have also been making school visits to see about implementing PBE in other subject areas.

As a Title 1 school and tough economical budgets we decided to contribute the $500 towards Apple TV in each of our classrooms and our principal put and additional $250 towards Apple TV. This has allowed our students the ability to share their work through Apple TV which has increased student engagement and participation. By having a wireless connection teachers are allowed to work in small groups, but still display something. It has allowed the teachers and students to have multiple teaching methods in the Math PBE Classroom as we do math rotations.